Luiz: It took me TWO YEARS to get over Aguero horror tackle
DAVID LUIZ has revealed he has just started to play his best football again after finally overcoming the effects of Sergio Aguero’s 18-rated tackle two years ago.
The Chelsea defender has returned to the form that prompted Paris SaintGermain to pay Chelsea £50million in 2014, a world record for a defender at the time. After returning to Stamford Bridge two years later, he was injured at Manchester City in December 2016 when Aguero was sent off for flying into the Brazilian with a knee-high tackle in stoppage time.
Although Luiz played on for the rest of the season, helping Chelsea win the title, he admits now he was playing through pain and suffered because of it last year, when his season was disrupted by a succession of injuries. Specialists in the UK and Spain concluded that he was still struggling from the impact of the tackle and it is only this season that he finally feels free of pain.
‘I’m very happy about my physical condition because I was suffering over the last two years,’ he said. ‘Even the year we won the league, I was on the pitch many, many times with a lot of pain, but I was giving everything for the team. Then the next year I paid the bill that you have to pay. But I’m happy to be playing again.’
Manager Maurizio Sarri, who takes his team to Crystal Palace today, has made Luiz the kingpin of his defence ahead of Gary Cahill and Andreas Christensen, who were Chelsea’s regular central defenders last season. Luiz has already played more games this season than he did last term, and loves Sarri’s new style. ‘I love to play this way and with this philosophy,’ he added.
But he knows Chelsea need consistency, after their win over Manchester City was sandwiched between defeats against Wolves and Leicester.
He said: ‘In those games we had the same problem after the goal we conceded. We changed our style. We have to be consistent in the way we play, and after that the results are going to come.’
Luiz praised Eden Hazard, who has been playing as a false nine recently. ‘He’s a fantastic player, an intelligent player,’ he said. ‘He is playing a different position but intelligent players can play anywhere. He is doing well and he deserves it.’